|
| |
The following article was taken from the June 2009 edition of Light and
Medium Truck magazine
By Frederick Kiel
The diesel exhaust fluid that will be required
for some trucks beginning next year should be easy to get, but drivers will
require some training and fleets will need to adjust their operations.
Light- and medium-duty fleets that buy 2010 diesel trucks using selective
catalytic reduction will be able to find the diesel exhaust fluid needed to
operate these emission-control systems easily and inexpensively, SCR proponents
say, but storing and dispensing the liquid will require some adjustments and
care by fleets.
DEF, a mixture of 32.5% purified urea and the rest deoinized water, will be
required by all 2010 and future diesel engines which use SCR to reduce nitrogen
oxide emissions. That will include all diesel-powered commercial trucks except
for those from Navistar Inc., producer of International Trucks and MaxxForce
engines. Navistar will use what it calls an “enhanced” exhaust gas recirculation
system, which cuts nitrogen oxide emissions within the engine and does not need
an outside catalyst, or agent.
The Environmental Protection Agency was initially cool to the SCR process,
partly due to concerns about the availability of DEF, but it does not appear at
this time that DEF availability will be an issue, said SCR proponents.
“Light- and medium-duty truck owners are going to have a wide choice of access
to DEF and I can’t see anyone having trouble getting it,” Alex LaBrie, principal
of Air Blue Fluids, Brea, Calif., a DEF distribution company, told Light &
Medium Truck. Air Blue is one of six DEF distribution companies that have
committed to distributing DEF nationwide, all ready before 2010.
Engine and truck makers will distribute the liquid in various container sizes
through their dealerships. It also will be carried at some truck stops and
likely also by convenience stores and local retail outlets, proponents told
L&MT.
“We will have DEF available at all volumes from as low as one gallon containers
to bulk volumes,” said KC Hall, director of diesel exhaust fluid business
development for Cummins Filtration. “Our own brand of Fleetguard DEF will be
available by the fourth quarter of this year at more than 20,000 locations in
the United States and Canada of the Cummins Filtration network, including 8,000
retail locations.”
DEF has been used in mining and agriculture for years, and several companies
have quickly added vehicle-grade DEF production to meet the expected demand.
“We have been producing vehicle-grade DEF for several years, one of two brands
that are sold at Mercedes-Benz dealers for their 2009 diesel cars,” Jim Spooner,
vice president and general manager of Colonial Chemical Co., Tabernacle, N.J.,
told L&MT.
Colonial is one of seven DEF producers in the North American SCR Stakeholders
Group, an organization that includes truck and engine manufacturers and
suppliers of SCR components, DEF and related equipment. Colonial also is one of
four DEF suppliers that recently received “certification” from the American
Petroleum Institute, which is better known for certifying motor oil grades.
Colonial will ramp up production of vehicle-grade DEF as demand grows, Spooner
said, but the company already has the capacity to produce all the expected
demand. Colonial will sell to distributors and directly to end-users.
“Light and medium fleets from municipalities, school districts and refuse
companies have already called us, and we will sell to them directly,” Spooner
said.
Storage Issues
Unlike petrochemical products that can be stored or transported in aluminum,
steel or other metal containers, DEF, which is minimally corrosive, can only be
stored in stainless steel and several of the most popular plastics.
Companies that build the storage and transport containers, as well as the pump
dispensing equipment, said they have designed and tested models for all sizes of
containers and are ready to go.
DEF works best in moderate temperatures. Fleets operating in extreme temperature
areas or with outside storage systems may have to take steps to monitor the
fluid.
“You have to have a temperature-controlled system for outside containers since
it freezes at 12 degrees Fahrenheit and can degrade over a long period, six
months or more, if stored over 80 degrees.” said Dave Polak, president of
Blue1USA, Duluth, Ga. Blue1USA’s sister company, Easy Fuel and Tank Solutions,
builds both aboveground and belowground fleet fueling systems.
Colonial’s Spooner said DEF stored indoors will have a minimum of one-year
storage life, “though we’ve left it out for two years and used it with no
deterioration.”
DEF producers will put manufacturing dates on their 1-gallon, 2.5-gallon and
5-gallon containers. Indoor bulk containers won’t need temperature controls,
because indoor temperatures will fall within the safe range.
The SCR 2010 trucks will have onboard containers to hold the DEF. Container size
will vary by engine size and manufacturer. Dodge, for example, will use an
8-gallon container on its 2010 diesel-powered 3500/4500/5500 chassis cabs.
Freightliner will offer 6-, 8- and 13-gallon containers on its Business Class M2
trucks, depending on the engine and truck size and application. Hino’s trucks
will have a 4.7-gallon container.
Since DEF turns slushy and will not flow at 12 degrees Fahrenheit and below,
truck makers will include a method to warm the solution on the truck, such as a
heat exchanger in the DEF tank.
Price
DEF price has been used as a marketing leverage for both proponents and critics
of SCR.
Navistar executives have made public statements that DEF could cost up to $35 a
gallon, citing half-gallon container prices they said they found for
Mercedes-Benz diesel automobiles.
Though the price for DEF in all its various containers has not been set,
Colonial’s Spooner said that the company was selling DEF in bulk for about $2 a
gallon.
“If you take the rack price of diesel and see the difference with retail diesel,
you’ll find that the price will be no problem,” he said.
Spooner conceded that the small plastic containers could go for a higher price.
“If you have to buy a gallon of antifreeze if your radiator runs low, that might
cost $6,” Spooner said, “but that’s not what you pay when you have the radiator
flushed and a new supply put in.”
DEF Usage Calculator
Cummins Inc. estimates that, on average, a medium-duty truck user (Class 6 or 7)
will have to fill the onboard diesel exhaust fluid tank 10 times a year. This
assumes the truck has a 10-gallon tank and runs 50,000 miles a year at an
average rate of 8 miles-per-gallon with a 2% DEF consumption rate per gallon of
fuel.
According to Cummins Inc.:
· Freezing and thawing diesel exhaust fluid does not change its efficiency.
· DEF is nontoxic at all temperatures
|
